Why are lawyers so unhappy? (And how can we use this to be happier?)
rtin Seligman, psychology professor at UPenn and author of Authentic Happiness, clues us in as to just how unhappy lawyers are: Researchers at John Hopkins University found statistically significant elevations of major depressive disorder in only 3 of 104 occupations surveyed. When adjusted for sociodemographics, lawyers topped the list, suffering from depression at a rate of 3.6 times higher than employed persons generally. Lawyers also suffer from alcoholism and illegal drug use at rates far higher than non-lawyers. The divorce…
2 minutes
Does Facebook make us miserable?
Facebook we all show the best and not the worst, leading to portraits of unattainable lives that may very well make us feel bad by comparison: Via Slate: Led by Alex Jordan, who at the time was a Ph.D. student in Stanford's psychology department, the researchers found that their subjects consistently underestimated how dejected others were–and likely wound up feeling more dejected as a result. Jordan got the idea for the inquiry after observing his friends' reactions to Facebook:…
2 minutes
Who is happier: lottery winners or paralyzed accident victims?
ttery winners... but not by nearly as much as you might guess. Some time after winning their money, lottery winners weren't all that much happier than people who hadn't won -- and accident victims weren't anywhere as unhappy as the researchers had assumed. Shouldn't lottery winners be ecstatic and paralyzed accident victims be miserable? No. What the authors of the study found was that: 1) Much of happiness exists outside of objective life circumstances. Attitude and perspective mean a lot…
2 minutes
Is being selfless the smartest way to be selfish?
is study shows doing volunteer work increases happiness -- not just correlation; they demonstrated causation as well. So if you're being self-centered and thinking only of how you can increase your own happiness, well, you may want to go help others for nothing in return: Here, we directly address the issue of causality and take advantage of a natural experiment: the collapse of East Germany. Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the German reunion, the first…
2 minutes
What notably reduces pain? (Hint: you might already do it.)
earing. Via Time Magazine: In a previous study, psychologist Richard Stephens at Keele University in the U.K. and colleagues found that people who were asked to dunk their hand in ice-cold water were better able to tolerate the pain — and they left their hands in the buckets for a full 40 seconds longer — if they were allowed to swear, compared with people who were asked to utter a non-curse word. In the new study, Stephens repeated the previous…
2 minutes
How you can deal with angry people without losing your cool:
ll yourself they are having a bad day and that it's not about you. Via US News: Telling yourself that an angry person is just having a bad day and that it's not about you can help take the sting out of their ire, a new study suggests. This strategy of finding another way to regard an angry person is an approach commonly suggested in cognitive behavioral therapy. For example, you can tell yourself that the angry person has just…
1 min read
How can you improve the quality of your sleep at night and feel less tired during the day?
ercise for 2.5hrs a week: via Eurekalert A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women, ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day, compared to those with less physical activity. And: 'Our findings demonstrate a link between regular physical activity and perceptions of sleepiness during the day, which suggests…
1 min read
5 Easy, Scientifically Proven Tips To Make Your Holiday Shopping Easier
Want to pick a creative gift that the receiver will be surprised by? Don't do it. Studies show people are much more satisfied by presents they said they wanted. 2) Accept that context can warp your thinking. The music in a store, a "SALE" sign, and how many items are on a shelf can all affect what and how much you buy. 3) To control your spending, hide the credit card and make sure your wallet contains only big…
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